Social, environmental, and economic barriers are interconnected, and public-private partnerships (PPPs) are key to bringing together the knowledge, expertise, resources, and networks needed to tackle global challenges.

In this editorial series we’ll explore the role of business in supporting access to education and opportunities, and consider the best way to prepare a generation of leaders who understand the importance of sustainable development.

So, your company wants to reduce its landfill waste. Now what? As sustainability reaches top of mind for investors and customers, more companies are beginning to tackle waste in their supply chains in order to boost their green cred.

Integrated reporting and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals are gaining momentum. Join our half-day morning workshop, led by BrownFlynn, to explore the changing landscape for corporate responsibility and sustainability practitioners. [REGISTER HERE]

The largest annual gathering of EHS and Sustainability managers, directors and vice presidents. Celebrating its 25th year, NAEM's annual conference is dedicated to best practice-sharing for those developing and integrating strategic environmental, health, safety and sustainability programs within their companies. [REGISTER HERE]

The 10th anniversary Social Capital Markets conference, will convene leading impact investors, world-class entrepreneurs, and innovative cross-sector practitioners for three full days of networking and engaging content at the intersection of money and meaning. 3p Discount Code: "MP_TriplePundit" [REGISTER HERE]

An event series whose mission it is to bring together companies from around the world to discuss climate change and how they can work together to address it most impactfully. Now building sponsorship and registration. [INFO HERE]

For NI17 we’re creating an experience unlike any conference you’ve been to before. We’ll help you map out your Path to Purpose to turn your passion into a purposeful career by gaining tangible skills and actionable insights. [INFO HERE]

3p is proud to partner with the Presidio Graduate School’s Managerial Marketing course on a blogging series about “sustainable marketing.” This post is part of that series. To follow along, please click here.

By Chad Reese

Are people happier now than they were 50 years ago?

A Worldwatch Institute article titled Rethinking the Good Life reports an interesting trend: over the last century, the happiness of people living in rich countries is no longer connected to increased income. However, research also suggests rising incomes of people in less wealthy countries may still heavily influence their happiness. This intuitively makes sense: in less-developed countries, more individual income means more basic needs met. But what happens after life’s necessities are provided?

Interestingly, according to Robert Putnam, Harvard professor of public policy, happiness is determined by social interactions. Putnam reports for various reasons a person with less social connections has more chances of dying or being locked in a poverty trap. As social animals, people crave context and acceptance, and without it we’re miserable.

But what is happiness? And how can it be measured?

Many entities have proposed indices to complement the gross domestic product (GDP), a traditional economic indicator that measures the market value of all the final goods and service produced in a country. The Wellbeing Index, a GDP complement created by sustainability consultant Robert Prescott-Allen with funding from the International Development Research Centre (IRDC), uses 87 different indicators including life expectancy and environmental factors to determine human well-being. On another front, “Happiness economics” is an academic discipline that attempts to quantify happiness by merging psychology and sociology with economics to maximize happiness measures over the financial bottom line. It turns out important Happiness economics measures of well-being include working less and leading a more simplified life. And the consumer trend of “downshifting” – of people choosing to simplify their lives – has environmental benefits as well: less stuff made and distributed means less energy and materials usage.

So how do you market a product or service to a person choosing a life less cluttered?

Polonsky calls marketers’ collective failure to improve the quality of consumers’ lives a result of not integrating macro-marketing and micro-marketing perspectives. Nature and its inhabitants will all be better off, Polonsky concludes, if marketing calculates and communicates value including environmental aspects, a focus on education on the “human-environment interface” and an emphasis on “want satisfaction” over acquisition and accumulation of goods.

That’s a big objective, but can the chain be broken? Is it realistic to think that marketers can satisfy a range of human wants without perpetuating the cycle of goods and services production, distribution and consumption?

One response

If we aren’t happy chances are it is because we want something which you do not have, objects or conditions. We are constantly encouraged to feel better and more important by buying bigger, better, newer stuff. But consumerism is placing a heavy burden on us and many families are stressed as they work for more and as quality time together lessens.

I have seen video of children in very poor countries laughing and playing, unconcerned that they should have more to be happy about. They are happy because they are playing, because they have their friends and family, and some food to eat that day. Everyone has the right to be happy, and if they can be in their situation, shouldn’t we?